5 London Street Cleaners Arrested Over an Alleged Threat to Pope Benedict XVI

LONDON (AP) - British police arrested five London streetcleaners over an alleged threat to Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, thesecond day of a papal trip to Britain that has brought both a warmwelcome from Catholics and renewed anger over the clerical sexabuse scandal. The Vatican said the pope was calm despite the pre-dawn arrestsand planned no changes to his schedule. Acting on a tip, police detained the men, aged 26 to 50, underthe Terrorism Act at a cleaning depot in central London afterreceiving information about a possible threat. The men were beingquestioned at a London police station and have not been charged.Police said an initial search of that business and other propertiesdid not uncover any hazardous items. The pope's visit has divided opinion in officially Protestant,highly secular Britain. The trip has been overshadowed by disgustover the Catholic Church's clerical abuse scandal and oppositionfrom secularists and those opposed to the pope's stances againsthomosexuality and using condoms to fight AIDS. The detained suspects worked for a contractor on behalf ofWestminster Council, the authority responsible for much of centralLondon. The pope will still address British politicians,businessmen and cultural leaders in Westminster Hall, part of theHouses of Parliament, later Friday. The depot were the men were arrested is responsible for cleaninganother part of London that the pope is not due to visit, policesaid. Police confirmed that some of the suspects were thought to befrom outside Britain but declined to comment on media reports theywere of Algerian origin. Veolia Environmental Services, the cleaners' company, had noimmediate comment on the arrests. At the scene of the arrests in Chiltern Street, close toLondon's Madame Tussauds' tourist attraction, police cordoned offpart of the road, removing items from the Veolia depot andexamining nearby garbage cans. The pope's security on this trip has been visibly higher than onprevious foreign trips, and Vatican officials have acknowledgedthat Britain represents a higher security threat than the otherEuropean countries Benedict has visited this year, includingPortugal, Malta and Cyprus. News of the arrests came as the pope was meeting representativesof other religions, including Muslims and Jews, and stressing theneed for mutual respect, tolerance and freedom. The Vatican saidthe pope was informed of the arrests and was pleased he could stickto his schedule. "We have complete trust in the police," Vatican spokesman Rev.Federico Lombardi told reporters. "The police are taking thenecessary measures. The situation is not particularly dangerous." "The pope is happy about this trip and is calm." Hours after the arrests, Benedict met with the Archbishop ofCanterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the worldwideAnglican Communion, at his London residence. The meeting came amidnew tensions following Benedict's unprecedented decision last yearto make it easier for Anglicans opposed to the ordination of womenbishops to convert to Catholicism. Benedict and Williams greeted each other warmly. Benedict saidflat-out he had no intention of speaking of difficulties "that arewell known to everyone here." Rather, he stressed the need forChristians to work together and bring a greater sense of virtueinto public discourse. Williams, who has not hidden his dismay over the Vatican'sinvitation to conservative Angligans, also stressed the ongoingeffort to bring the two churches back together, saying each sidewas "made less by the fact of our dividedness." He praisedBenedict for his constant call to bring faith into public policy -a theme Benedict was to explore further Friday in his major addressat Westminster Hall. Benedict travels with his own security detail, headed by chiefpapal bodyguard Domenico Giani. Benedict's white, bulletproofPopemobile is flanked by eight to 10 dark-suited bodyguards who jogalongside, scanning crowds for potential threats. There have been no major known attempts against Benedict duringhis five-year papacy, although he was knocked down at Christmas EveMass in 2009 by a mentally unstable woman who jumped the securitybarricade inside St. Peter's Basilica. In 2007, a man jumped thebarricade in St. Peter's Square and grabbed the pope's vehiclebefore being pushed to the ground by guards. Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II was wounded in anassassination attempt in 1981 in St. Peter's Square. Police in thePhilippines also disrupted an alleged plot to assassinate John Paulin Manila in 1995. Benedict was nearly 30 minutes late for his first event Fridaymorning; the Vatican attributed the delay at the time to logisticalproblems. It wasn't known if the arrests contributed to the delay. The pope was then given a boisterous welcome by thousands ofcheering Catholic schoolchildren at St. Mary's University Collegein London, where he urged young people to ignore the shallowtemptations of today's "celebrity culture." Benedict also told their teachers to make sure to provide thechildren with a trusting, safe environment - the second time in asmany days that he has referred to the church sex abuse scandal. OnThursday, the pope acknowledged that the Roman Catholic Church hadfailed to act quickly or decisively enough to remove pedophilepriests from ministry. "Our responsibility toward those entrusted to us for theirChristian formation demands nothing less," Benedict said."Indeed, the life of faith can only be effectively nurtured whenthe prevailing atmosphere is one of respectful and affectionatetrust." Polls in Britain indicate widespread dissatisfaction with theway Benedict has handled the sex abuse scandal, with Catholicsnearly as critical of him as the rest of the population. Outside the London university hall, some 4,000 young students,outfitted in prim school uniforms and waving small white-and-yellowHoly See flags, serenaded the pontiff Friday with gospel hymns andsongs. The students, from England, Scotland and Wales, gave Benedict atie-dyed stole and three books tracing the history of the CatholicChurch in Great Britain. The 83-year-old Benedict appeared relaxedand happy, gently greeting children and kissing them on the head. In a surprise move, Becky Gorrod, 39, who had been standingoutside the gates of St. Mary's holding her 8-month-old daughterAlice, was ushered in to meet the pontiff as the crowd cheered. "My husband's never going to believe me," Gorrod toldjournalists. "They opened the car door, and the pope got out. Thenthe (pacifier) fell out of Alice's mouth, and the pope bent downand picked it up! The pope! How mad is that?" She said the pope then kissed Alice on the forehead. A few blocks away, about 30 people protested, holding upinflated condoms and posters. "Condoms are not crimes," read one.Another read: "Science flies you to the moon: religion flies youinto buildings." Michael Clark, 60, said he was protesting because he was gay andannoyed that the pope's visit was expected to cost Britishtaxpayers 12 million pounds ($18.7 million) for security. "That means it's being supported by taxpayers and people whomay not have the same ideas," Clark said. "Sexuality is notevil." Benedict began his four-day U.K. state visit on Thursday,greeted by Queen Elizabeth II at Holyroodhouse Palace in Edinburgh,Scotland. He wraps it up Sunday in Birmingham when he beatifies the19th century Anglican convert Cardinal John Henry Newman. Catholics are a minority in Britain at 10 percent, and up untilthe early 19th century they endured harsh persecution anddiscrimination and were even killed for their faith. King HenryVIII broke with Rome in the 16th century after he was denied amarriage annulment.